Next week, 570,000 11-year-olds will find out which secondary school they will go to. As the recession pushes more families who might have considered a fee-charging school into the competition for the best state secondaries, the pressure on school places has never been higher. Across the country, families are bracing themselves.

Brighton

The tale of the lottery system in Brighton is now one of myth and fable. Contrary to popular belief, school places were not allocated by the "roll of a dice"; random allocation was applied as a deal-breaker in applications to just four popular schools.

Though fewer families got their first choice under this system, there were fewer appeals last year because, the council says, parents can't appeal claiming the rules aren't fair, only if they feel they've been misapplied.

Janet Felkin, headteacher of Blatchington Mill school, one of the four in the lottery system, said: "I really sympathise with parents - it's such an important decision - but if I'm looking at the quality of education we're trying to provide here, it's difficult to accept we should go over our limit of places. That would compromise the quality for everyone.

"I sit in on every appeal parents make, and it's heartbreaking. But when the decision is made, parents are very good at adjusting and making sure children feel comfortable and positive about where they are going."

While some have accepted the lottery system - which according to one estimate is now applied in up to a quarter of councils across England - others are trying to find ways to outwit it.

One school-appeals company has developed a new line, offering a discount to parents who order its services before they learn the lottery result.

Graham Jones, a former head who runs School Select, said: "If we wanted to be mercenary, we could charge whatever we wanted to do appeals. But we can say to families in the lottery, if we produce your statement in the winter, we can do it more cheaply. The downside is, you have a statement that might not be used if you succeed in the lottery. One parent said, if I get into that school I'll be so happy that I won't mind I paid."

There are other winners under the lottery system. Brighton College introduced a new two-form entry level for 11-year-olds last year - after 150 years of being a 13-18 school - to take pupils who lost out on places in the lottery. Under pressure from new regulations to justify their charitable status, private schools are offering more bursaries to pupils who might otherwise have gone to state schools.

Bristol

Tensions between private and state schools have been felt more keenly in Bristol than in most other areas, with one of the largest concentrations of fee-charging schools in the country. Many are predicting that the credit crunch will trigger a flow of pupils to the city's state schools.

Kate Campion, programme director for transforming learning in Bristol, said: "We have had a significant rise in applications this year."

The council is attempting to turn round decades of poor state school performance by luring parents back from the private sector with a raft of new school buildings and sponsored academies. Campion says: "We've got a huge academy programme to attract a much wider group of young people into school, who otherwise would not have come. That is starting to have an impact, but it's early days.

"There's the credit crunch, so people who might not otherwise consider the state sector are now considering it. But we're also starting to pull some back from other local authorities. There's more confidence in schools here now because of our investment."

Trafford

Manchester's wealthy neighbour set the scene for one of the bloodiest rows to divide the Conservative party in recent years. The MP for Altrincham and Sale West, Graham Brady, resigned his front bench position in May 2007 after David Cameron threatened to cap the expansion of grammar schools.

For parents in the area - where a third of children go to selective schools - it is just as vicious. One parent, who asked not to be named, said tutoring for selection tests was routine. "I feel sorry for those who can't afford it. It's so competitive. My son did it for six months. He took three different entrance exams, which was quite stressful. It's the kind of exam that if you'd never seen the paper before, you'd struggle with it. I'd be quite disappointed if he doesn't get in. I'm trying not to talk about it. He brought it up at the weekend and said he was nervous. He desperately wants to go to the grammar school."

Research published this week by the government revealed that, on average, 11% of pupils are tutored for academic classes. The bulk of that happens in the final years of primary school, when 19% of pupils are tutored, largely for grammar-school entry tests and Sats. In total, some 16% of pupils from homes earning over £50,000 are privately tutored, compared with 9% below that threshold.

David Acton, a Labour councillor in Trafford, said: "It's an absolutely dog's dinner really. In theory, children could be sitting six selection tests. The tests are all different. It's crazy. It's the middle-class families who can pay for the tutoring and get the places at grammar schools. It's a de facto private system really."